Rupam Bhuyan (right) and Muktadir Choudhury sing a duet at the final of TVS College Icon at Guwahati Mahotsav on Thursday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Oct. 11: “Aa, dekhen zara kisme kitna hai dum...”

This duet by Muktadhir Choudhury of J.B. Law College and Rupam Bhuyan of BRM Government Law College set the tone for the TVS College Icon final held at Sonaram High School ground this evening.

After two hours of high voltage excitement, Muktadhir turned out to be the one with greater dum as he was declared the winner. He took home a TVS motorcycle and a guitar autographed by Indian Idol 3 finalist Amit Paul.

“I am speechless,” Muktadhir said after being declared the winner.

Rupam took the defeat in his stride by saying he was “happy for his friend”.

“I now have more responsibility and have to take my singing career more seriously. I have to go a long way,” Muktadhir said before being lifted by his fans on their shoulders for a victory lap as fireworks lit up the clear evening sky.

His mother, Mumtaz, said she never believed that her son could sing so well. “I am really surprised,” she added.

Nandana Sarma, a college student who has been following the contest closely, said she turned emotional when the other four semi-finalists came on stage and together sang two hit numbers — Kabhi alvida naa kehna and Where’s the party tonight.

The contest was the city’s first attempt to hunt for the best singing talent from the campus and was being held as part of Guwahati Mahotsav.

In his first solo performance today, Rupam floored the crowd with the evergreen number Ek hasina thi, ek deewana tha.

The crowd went berserk when Muktadhir performed Zubeen Garg’s latest hit Subha subha from the movie I See You.

To the delight of the audience, Padmanav Bordoloi of Cotton College, who was among the top 13 of Indian Idol 3, performed A.R. Rahman’s Vande Mataram and Zubeen’s Hiya diya niya.

Fans of Bhupen Hazarika and late Jayanta Hazarika were in for a surprise when Rupam and Muktadhir sang the Rambha Maneka.... namboor najano bhai.

Earlier, Dhruba Sarma, a member of the oldest rock group, Friends, and one of the judges, had kicked off the final by singing John Lennon’s Imagine.

The contest, which started on October 6, had generated a lot of enthusiasm among college students.

The management and unions of both the law colleges had called meetings on their campus yesterday and urged the members to send maximum votes to the contestants of the respective institutes. “This is a great day for us,” said an ecstatic student of J.B. Law College. “Muktadhir has made us all proud... we’ll celebrate his victory in style tomorrow on the college campus,” he added.